Wildlife & Snow

I have been going to Yellowstone for the past several days trying to see what I can photograph …. Yellowstone has always been good to me as far as getting some good images and the last several days has not been disappointing at all …. but I do have to say the the animals variety is at a minimum for now till spring hits …. for now though …… If I have to put up with Coyotes, Buffalo, Fox, and an occasional wolf …. I suppose everyone one else that looks at this Blog has to put up with them too….The Buffalo have learned that the roads are built for traveling and they use them. I watched as an entire line of Buffalo were coming straight up the hill and bursting over the edge. As they burst through the snow berms it made for some really dramatic shots.

One of the perks of shooting in the winter is that with the deep snow, most of the animals are not eager to run off even if a photographer is around….This big Bull was not in the least bit concerned over my presence ….he was chewing on a Juniper tree or he would move over to the bushes and chew on those…. I was able to get a nice variety of shots and the bull stayed within a 20 yard radius the whole time….I pulled out my 400 mm with the doubler and didn’t realize that I was shooting at 800 mm….yes….this shot is full frame

This coyote had been on a carcass and was heading up towards us…..the day was clear and windy which meant that I had to deal with the glare of the snow and the wind blowing which makes it tough to get everything to focus in sharp and clear…With some hard work and careful attention to my settings…I was rewarded with some great shots in spite of the conditions.